Response from Mrs Jane Pape (Individual)
1. Mrs Jane Pape (Individual) : 8 Jul 2008 12:46:00
Please write your comment or explain your reasons for supporting or opposing this part of the Report. You may also wish to refer to the tests of soundess in the glossary of the Preferred Options document before making your comments.
Housing plans - Allithwaite
hen I moved here 11 years ago, my solicitor refused to put the purchase through until she had exhaustively searched records to show there would not be any planning permission given for more housing in this area of Allithwaite around Templand. I occupy a semi-det. bungalow, 1968 built, off Templand Lane in an ex-farm track now called Templandgate. I moved here from Coniston Specifically because I choose to life in a very rural, almost isolated place. To have the news that housing could be built in the fields around me now just fills me with dread and I have to say that the way the news was so sudden came as a great shock. In fact I feel quite a sense of betrayal.
Having said that, I did fill in the Parish Survey and commented that new, affordable housing is needed for our young people, so cannot be too 'nimbyish' about it. two of my own 3 'children' now in their late 30's live fairly locally (Lyth and Hincaster) but struggled for many years before being able to buy - in fact youngest son lived in a horsebox from Dec. to April last year! (3rd son has been in the RAF for 21 years and cannot afford to buy anywhere for when he retires) The other two have their own sailing boat business on Windermere and so contribute hugely to the area in exhorbitant business taxes and local employment.
My deep concerns for the probable number of houses allocated to Allithwaite (around 80 dwellings!) relates mainly to the density of building; is there likely to be another ghastly 'estate' like Greendales, which appears like some alien, to have been dropped in the village, quite out of scale or style. Or could a more sensitive, 'organic' approach be achieved by putting semi's, some detached properties, maybe a short 'terrace' in different locations throughout the village?
I understand that the Templand area is under consideration as a 'preferred option'. Preferred by whom? Certainly not by me or my neighbours; for one thing, a new pumping station would need to be built....even with the new water mains our pressure dropped dramatically again over the Bank Holiday weekend. (Before the new trunk mains, we could be without any water at all for several days when all the caravan, campsites, hotels and B & B's were full and Cartmel races on.) Another consideration is the single track lane running from Templand Lane down to Cartmel - which would be the route out to the A590 and new dual carriageway. Are there proposals to widen and upgrade the lanes? They are dangerous enough now, what with boy racers, 4x4's and teenage girls in Fiesta's! At the other end of Templandgate, another area under the microscope, Wartbarrow Lane and Cartmel Lane are also only single track. Enlarged caravan sites and new log cabin developments have already put more pressure on all these narrow, beautifully hedgerowed, flower-rich lanes.
What about the conservation and 'bio-ethics' of ripping out yards of ancient, multi-species hedgerows around here? Or the pipistrelles, thrushes and other protected wildlife? A large new estate just plonked on a field site may be very convenient for the builder and possibly cheaper, but not in terms of integrating new people into the village or giving them individual, 'fit-for-the-village' homes. I also happen to think it is important for different age groups and types of people to be 'mixed up' and not kept in separate areas for 'old people' or 'young families' which tends to happen with new developments.
Regarding employment for young people; unless they have transport - there is none from Allithwaite which is relevant at present. Locally, all my age group spent many years taxi-ing children to school and various activities, and then to hotels in Grange or the Little Chef at Meathop where they safely earned their first weekend money. And even until they could earn enough to buy their own transport, we took them to the station - nearly 3 miles from Templand - often cutting our own lifestyles to fit it all in and find money..... My daughter (with the W'mere boat business) absolutely struggles to find local staff. Emplying up to 16 people, she pays well over the limit but finds that even if they can get to the workplace, no young people from this area are interested in building a career in an International business with many opportunities to learn different aspects of yachting from boatsales to building and repairing, clothing chandlery and finance. The ones who apply have little initiative or enthusiasm. So a lot more would have to be done to encourage a work ethic which will provide the sort of jobs needed. The Government has all but wiped out farming, the Tourist industry is well catered for by foreigners and IT companies must be reaching saturation point?
On a personal level, I presently look from my back windows miles out to the Fairfield Horseshoe, and to the front, over my friend's pony field, which is part of a beautiful green gap between the farm lane and Templand Park. I believe this is one which is being considered. The land rises high opposite my front door and I would be very overlooked even if it were bungalows built there. However, if they were to be Truly affordable for Local people only (NOT from North Lancs or outside say a 10 mile radius) and if they were designed and built sympathetically to the landscape and existing housing, then I guess it would be bearable. But it does strike me - last year there were 22....repeat Twenty Two properties on the market in Allithwaite! (I haven't counted recently, but there are still a good number).So why anyone in some office somewhere who doesn't know these things can impose 80 new ones....it just makes me wonder where common sense has gone. I know we need some - many homes have been extended in the past few years to accomodate grownup children who can't afford to buy - or rent. The holiday cottage market has even wrecked that as a possibility, rent is often higher than a mortgage.
Finally, I have to say that it was only by a chance meeting with a near neighbour that I got to hear about all this. I do not get a paper, only listen to Radio Cumbria for the weather forecast, and only received any mailing 2 days before the original deadline, with 2 hasty notes dropped round by Cllr Mary Wilson.So I've hardly had time to gather my thoughts, which is why I've probably rambled on too much. But it is such a Huge change to face - probably won't happen until I'm moved into a care home but the whole idea still takes some getting used to.....though it could prove to be a wonderful benefit if done sensitively and above all, with Common Sense (Not NVQ-type tick boxes!!!) I did attend the emergency meeting and will certainly be keeping my ears skinned for any further news.
Presume all this originated in Brussels..........................